Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the anxiety level of children and their parents in dental setting during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic and to compare it to an age matched group of pediatric patients pre-COVID-19 pandemic and their parents.
Materials and Methods: This was a two cross sectional studies. Eighty children, 5-7 years, who require dentalhealth care and with no previous dental experience were included in the study. The dental anxiety level of children was assessed using the Facial image scale during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic (n=40 children) and pre-COVID-19 pandemic (n=40 children). The accompanied parent's dental anxiety level was also evaluated using a Likert scale,0-10.
Results: The dental anxiety assessment using the Facial image scale prooved higher median children' dental anxiety during the pandemic (3.00) than pre-pandemic (2.00) with statistically significant difference (P=0.043). In addition, the median dental anxiety of parents using Likert scale showed more anxious parents during the pandemic (10.00) than pre-pandemic (2.50) with statistically significant difference ( P < 0.0001). A positive correlation has been revealed between the parents and their children's dental anxiety level (P <0.0001)
Conclusion:
Pediatric dentist should consider the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the dental anxiety level of parents and their children. Therefore, they must be committed to take every attempt to relieve parents and children's anxiety and to comfort them during dental treatment.